This past weekend was a bit surprising. I’m not tallying the picks until Friday, but I have a feeling they were pretty bad. Still, such is life in the WCHA …
Wisconsin/Denver
– See above comment. I really wasn’t expecting the Pioneers to take three points from this series.
– That being said, this weekend will end up being a good stepping stone for both teams. Saturday’s game may have been one of the first times I’ve ever heard both coaches happy with the tie. Typically with ties, one coach is happy and the other is not. This? A tad weird.
– George Gwozdecky said that Saturday’s game may have been the best the Pioneers have played so far in this young season: “When you consider all of those frustrating emotional factors that could have put us down and out it was probably the best overall performance we’ve had this year so far.”
Colorado College/Minnesota State
– Should have seen this result. Still, sometimes you’ve got to go with the trends that had been occurring with teams, as shaky as said trends might be.
– That being said, good to see the Mavericks get their first win of the season.
Alaska-Anchorage/Minnesota-Duluth
– The Bulldogs sweeping was no big surprise here.
– Saturday’s game was the first one that the Seawolves really didn’t have a chance in all season.
– I know that the Sioux were the preseason unanimous number one pick, but the Bulldogs are making a strong case early on about why they should be up there instead.
– There were a couple good quotes from the weekend that I thought summed things up well:
“Last week we played a skill game, tonight we had to play a gritty game. We showed we can do both … We showed we can battle through anything.” – UMD forward J.T. Brown (regarding Friday)
“The biggest difference between Friday and tonight is that their skill players made skill plays … We had chances, but we just weren’t sharp around the net. They have upper-echelon players who are difference-makers.” – UAA coach Dave Shyiak
St. Cloud State/Minnesota
– Minnesota’s win tonight was important for the Gophers. Things haven’t looked so bright (some Gopher fans have already dramatically declared on Facebook that the season’s already over) so getting those league points was crucial.
– Friday was a glimpse of what the Huskies can and, by all accounts, should do this season.
– Related: good to see Garrett Roe finally get his first goal of the season.
– Unrelated: the Gophers will be without Nick Bjugstad for a little while as he’s been diagnosed with mono.
North Dakota/Maine
– Here’s the series where we really dropped the ball. I know Maine’s supposed to be pretty good this year, but I don’t think many of us expected that total beatdown.
– The Sioux were humbled. It will be very interesting to see how they respond next weekend against Denver … when they finally get some home ice again.
– While the weekend was pretty much a disaster as far as Sioux fans are concerned, it’s still too early to read much into the results. This is a long season and supposedly the Sioux only play well in the second half anyway, right? (i kid, i kid)
– Still … if teams end up having problems with the Sioux later this year, they might want to track down a copy of the film from this weekend to see if they can glean anything from it.
Nebraska-Omaha/Michigan
– I don’t know if I got the nights right, but I know I called a split here, so woo, success.
– Saturday’s loss marked the first this season for the Mavericks.
– This is the best start UNO has had in program history and definitely was not expected by most of us. Still, I think many may have had a tiny thought nagging them that the Mavericks may do better than predicted this year. We can play the “it’s still early” broken record, but good starts can’t hurt.
